Chapter 580
With Jin Wu’s permission, Lu Jinchang hurried out of the Kelaixiang Restaurant.
“How did this happen? Why would a fire break out for no reason?” Lu Jinchang asked anxiously as he walked.
“My lord, I don’t know either. By the time I discovered it, the fire in the rear courtyard was already raging,” the bailiff replied uneasily.
“What about the people inside?” Lu Jinchang’s heart rose into his throat.
He kept praying that nothing had happened to them.
Otherwise, he was afraid he would lose his head over this.
“My lord, the fire is too fierce. Our men can’t get in, so we don’t know whether those people are still in the rear courtyard!” The bailiff did not dare conceal anything and answered honestly.
“Did they leave and fail to return?” Lu Jinchang asked again, still clinging to a sliver of hope. If they had happened to go out, perhaps they would be safe?
“My lord, it seems they had already returned after going out today,” the bailiff hurriedly replied, remembering what he had asked earlier.
“Are you saying not a single one of them escaped?” Lu Jinchang asked in disbelief.
There had been quite a few of them.
How could not one person have made it out?
“My lord, we didn’t see anyone,” the bailiff said. He secretly thought that perhaps those people had been exhausted after going out and had returned to rest, never expecting a fire to break out.
Lu Jinchang slowly closed his eyes. There was only one thought in his mind.
It was over.
“My lord, wasn’t that man claiming to be Prince An today? He never admitted that he had brought his family to Lu City. Perhaps those people were impostors?” Feng Du carefully spoke up beside him.
He was thinking that maybe the group had merely been frauds.
If the impostors were dead, then so be it. They could simply pretend those people had never come to Lu City.
“Master Feng, don’t you think there was something strange about those people?” Lu Jinchang disagreed. He would rather believe that the people from earlier had been Prince An’s men than believe that the greedy, grasping man was Prince An.
Although Prince An was ruthless, his reputation among the common people was excellent. He was known as a man who truly got things done.
He was nothing like the sort of person who would greedily covet every last thing.
Besides, Princess Consort of An came from an exceedingly wealthy family. How could Prince An possibly be short of that little bit of money?
In contrast, there were far too many suspicious points about the people that evening.
He was even more inclined to believe that this group had some ulterior motive.
Could it be that after leaving the next day, they intended to steal the money and provisions from the county treasury?
That seemed to be what he should be worrying about most. If those people were the impostors, then how was he supposed to explain himself to the people of Lu City?
“My lord, but if those people are actually Prince An and his family, and they are now in the rear courtyard of our county office, how are we supposed to answer to His Majesty?” Feng Du naturally knew that the people who had arrived that day were the suspicious ones. But now that those people had died in the rear courtyard of their county office, they could not possibly bear the blame.
Lu Jinchang, who had been furious a moment earlier, fell silent at once.
How were they to answer to the Emperor?
Prince An and his entire family had died in the county office’s rear courtyard?
If the Emperor flew into a rage, executing their entire clan would not be excessive.
At the thought, Lu Jinchang’s face crumpled in despair.
Why had something like this happened in Lu City of all places?
Lu Jinchang hurried back to the county office and stared at the raging flames.
His heart sank straight to the bottom.
If there were people inside, they had probably been burned to ashes by now.
“My lord, no one knows that Prince An came to Lu City. When the time comes, we can simply claim that there is no proof either way,” Feng Du whispered from the side.
“But quite a few people in Lu City saw them when they arrived,” Lu Jinchang replied, disagreeing.
“Besides, they must have met the Jiang family, mustn’t they? Go to the Jiang residence and ask Young Master Jiang to come here.” After thinking it over, Lu Jinchang decided that he ought to discuss the matter with Jiang Yuanrang.
“My lord, the fire is too fierce. There’s nothing we can do,” a bailiff rushed over at that moment, his face blackened with soot.
“Keep the flames under control. Don’t let them spread to the front courtyard,” Lu Jinchang said through clenched teeth as he looked at the rear section of the county office, which had been burned beyond recognition.
There was no way to save the rear courtyard, but many records were kept in the front courtyard. That area absolutely could not be allowed to burn.
“What happened?” Madam Yu hurried over, looking at the sea of flames in the rear courtyard in confusion.
Thinking of the distinguished guests staying in the rear courtyard, Madam Yu’s heart sank.
“The rear courtyard caught fire by accident, that’s all. Why have you come here?” Lu Jinchang asked displeasedly.
“I saw that something seemed to be on fire over here, so I came to see what was happening,” Madam Yu replied.
At that moment, Madam Yu kept glancing into the courtyard, hoping to find the distinguished guests who had been staying there and ask whether they were all right.
“All right, go back,” Lu Jinchang said impatiently, waving his hand to send her away.
“But are the distinguished guests all right?” Madam Yu held herself back, yet in the end she could not resist asking.
“What distinguished guests? There’s no one in the rear courtyard,” Lu Jinchang said impatiently.
Madam Yu stared at him in shock. She could not understand why he was saying that.
Hadn’t several distinguished guests moved into the rear courtyard just a few days ago? How could he say there was no one there?
At the thought, Madam Yu looked at Lu Jinchang in disbelief. An absurd suspicion arose in her mind.
Could it be that Lu Jinchang had actually started the fire himself?
Madam Yu stammered, wanting to ask him directly, but she could not bring herself to do so.
After all, in her heart, Lu Jinchang was still that impartial and selfless magistrate of Lu County.
Would he really sacrifice so many lives for his own personal gain?
Kelaixiang Restaurant
“My lord, the fire burned fiercely. I’m afraid not a single survivor could have escaped.” A guard rushed into the private room where Jin Wu was staying, his face alight with excitement.
“Excellent! Who would have thought that the illustrious Prince An of Lan Nuo would meet his end in a fire? I’d like to see what reason Lan Nuo has to continue existing without Prince An, that pillar holding up the sky.” Jin Wu threw back his head and laughed triumphantly.
“The general is wise! I’m sure it won’t be long before our Blue Bay Kingdom recovers Lan Nuo,” the guard flattered him.
“Exactly. By then, our monarch will surely reward the general handsomely,” another guard hurriedly added.
“Hmph. Without Prince An, Lan Nuo is utterly defenseless. Just wait. Before long, Lan Nuo will become our Blue Bay Kingdom’s territory,” Jin Wu said smugly.
He was already wondering how the monarch would reward him when he returned.
When should they launch their campaign to recover Lan Nuo?
“General, I heard that the Third Prince of Qinling is currently in Lan Nuo’s capital. Should we go take a look as well?” another guard asked.
“Good idea. We should also go to the capital and make our sovereignty known. Before long, Qinling will no longer have the strength to stand against our Blue Bay Kingdom either.” At the thought of Qinling bowing its head and submitting to their kingdom, Jin Wu’s smile grew even more triumphant.
“Xu Mu, hurry and find the prince. Tell him everything that happened here.” Li Zhiwei sat in front of the thatched cottage, giving Xu Mu solemn instructions.
He could not imagine what crazy thing Xu Heming would do if he learned of their deaths.
And as for the people from Blue Bay Kingdom, what exactly had they come to Lan Nuo for?
